


Certain Common Confusions, Clarified

by Lspace



Category: Original Work
Genre: English usage rules, author has no professional experience copy editing, author has probably made highly embarrassing usage mistakes, do people do this kind of thing, this is a reference work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 04:21:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6641263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lspace/pseuds/Lspace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A list-in-progress of certain English mistakes that often prove difficult to catch--with explanations and example sentences!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Certain Common Confusions, Clarified

**Author's Note:**

> This list is not intended as an ultimate authority. Please, if you think something I've written is incorrect, do not hesitate to comment. I'd like this reference to be accurate as possible.

1\. Loathe vs. loath

Loathe is a verb; to loathe means to hate. Loath is an adjective meaning reluctant. The minions loathed the new scheme, but they were loath to bother the supervillain with their objections.

 

2\. Faze vs. phase

To faze is a verb meaning to disturb or disconcert. It is almost never used except to emphasize someone's composure. That didn't faze her at all. She remained unfazed by the slurs they spat at her. The word faze is not to be confused with the word phase, which is a noun meaning stage or step. (To phase also means to line up in scientific jargon.) We're moving into Phase Three. I need to phase the data.

 

3\. Counsel vs. council

Counsel is a noun meaning advice. It's also a verb: to counsel means to advise. She gives good counsel. I too would counsel you to attack at dawn. A council is an official group of people whose job is to arbitrate, deliberate, legislate, or advise. While a council could very well give counsel, the two words are not interchangeable.

 

4\. Free rein

There's an expression (you may know it) meaning "liberty to do as one sees fit". The expression is traditionally "free rein" rather than "free reign". I know that "free reign" seems to make sense, what with the association of reign and authority. However, "free rein"--where "rein" is the power to direct and control--is the common usage. 

 

5\. Deep-seated

Something is deep-seated if it is firmly established at a profound level.

A grudge, a need for revenge, or an anxiety of highly personal or inscrutable origin is deep-seated. It is not (in common usage) deep-seeded. (This will perhaps make more sense if you recall that "seat" can mean "home".)

 

6\. Dessert vs. desert

A dessert is something sweet you eat after dinner. A desert is a barren area where little precipitation occurs.

 

7\. Leech vs. leach

A leech is an organism that sucks your blood, or some other metaphorical parasite. To leach is to drain a soluble chemical or material away from soil or ash using percolating liquid. Your character might call an extortionist vampire a "leech". If you wanted to describe the same character going pale, you'd say that all the color leached out of their face--metaphorically.

 

8\. Make do

To manage with limited or inadequate means is to make do. It is impossible for someone to make due unless you're describing what your teacher does to your homework.

 

9\. Ascent vs. assent

An ascent is a journey from a lower point to a higher point; the points may be physical or metaphorical. Assent is a noun meaning agreement as well as a verb meaning to agree. She had assented to the attempted ascent of the mountain. 

 

10\. Aid vs. aide

Aid is a noun meaning help. An aide is an official assistant; the term is short for the French aide-de-camp, which was the job title of the people who gofered for military leaders.

 

11\. Baited vs. bated

A hook can be baited, which means bait has been put on it to lure prey in. Bated is an adjective that is never used except in the phrase "with bated breath," which means "in great suspense". Breath can be bated, but not baited.

 

12\. Edition vs. addition

Addition is the act of summing numbers; an addition is something that has been added to something else. An edition is a version or instance of something, such as a book or radio broadcast.

 

13\. A lot

Never spelled alot. See Hyperbole and a Half.

 

14\. Peak vs. peek

A peak is sometimes a mountaintop, sometimes an orgasm, and always a noun meaning "high point"--except when it's used as a verb meaning to reach one's peak. If I look at something furtively or tentatively, I am peeking. (That's why the game of looking at small children from behind your hands is called "peek-a-boo".)

 

15\. Self-deprecating

To insult oneself or put oneself down is to self-deprecate. Any comment that the speaker makes to deflate their own image is self-deprecating. To depreciate, on the other hand, is to diminish in value over time; people living in the US would prefer, for example, that the US dollar not depreciate. Depreciate is not the antonym of appreciate, and one cannot self-depreciate.

 

16\. Per se

"Per se" means "by and of itself". Our Internet going down isn't a problem per se; it's just that I need to submit my college application online by midnight tonight. While the phrase is pronounced "per say," it is not spelled "per say" or "per sae". It's Latin in origin and is spelled "per se". 

 

17\. Breath vs. breathe

A breath is an inhalation or exhalation of air. To take a breath is to breathe; the e on the end is important.

 

18\. Statue vs. statute

A statue is a sculpted figure of a person or animal; a statute is a law. The latter is an important ingredient in the phrases "statute of limitations" (which sets a time limit on prosecution for crimes) and "statutory rape" (used to refer to sexual intercourse between consenting partners whose respective ages make sexual intercourse illegal). 

 

19\. Psych

It's pronounced "sike," but not spelled that way. It can be spelled psyche, but it's different from Psyche, who was married to Cupid and whose name is pronounced "sike-ee". The word psych is an interjection meaning "Gotcha!" and a nickname for the field of psychology. My best friend is a psych major. (A psych is also a high school athletic tradition wherein all the players on a team dress according to a theme on the day of a game.) To psych up means to mentally prepare someone for something. I'm psyching myself up for the championship game. I am so psyched.


End file.
